Mediated conviviality and the urban social order: reframing the regulation of public space.

Abstract

The regulation of public space is influenced greatly by debates about crime, disorder and (in)security. This paper challenges certain assumptions that inform a number of competing mentalities regarding the regulation of public spaces drawn from within the fields of criminology and urban studies, notably ‘preventive exclusion’, ‘reassurance policing’ and the ‘right to the city’. It harnesses inter-disciplinary insights from real world examples to re-frame and advance debates about the future regulation of public space, conceptualised in this paper as ‘mediated conviviality’. It argues that social order is not spontaneous but needs to be facilitated. This perspective simultaneously de-centres crime and (in)security as central organising concepts and recognises the importance of safety to the development of a convivial public realm, with implications for practical strategies of urban governance.